FRANCE, FICTION

No. 91/92: A Parisian Bus Diary
Lauren Elkin

This review is based on the 2021 edition by Tablo Publishing. The diary entries are observations made by Elkin while she rode the buses 91 and 92 to and from the University in Paris where she was teaching. The idea was to observe the world with her phone rather than use it to distract herself from the world.  Written between September 2014 and May 2015, the entries are an astute observation of urban Parisian life. It marks the public trauma of the events of January 2015 (The Charlie Hebdo and HyperCacher grocery store attacks) and Elkin’s very personal grief of losing a wanted pregnancy. The entries are short notes, but you get the strong sense of being in the bus with Elkin watching with her.

I was in Paris shortly after the November 2015 Parisian attacks, my retrospective reading of the entries reminds me of that time in Paris. I read the book during lockdown in Melbourne, and I yearned for Paris and my daily work commute. It is a book that connects you to the everyday Paris.

Recommended by Shyamala who was last in France in 2015.